David Rhodes

The Washington Post reports Anderson Cooper's highly anticipated sitdown with President Trump's alleged former mistress is scheduled to air 10 days from today. Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted a picture of him, Cooper and his client last Friday that "heightened the suspense" of the interview. "But the airing date remained vague," as The Post reports, "leading to speculation that CBS was embroiled in a legal battle before it could move forward with the salacious segment." Over the past week, Avenatti has helped fuel the speculation that Trump's lawyers have tried to prevent the interview from airing. CBS News president David Rhodes said earlier this week, however, that he hadn't seen any injunction, adding that the reason it didn't have an airdate was because "there’s still a lot of journalistic work to do."

“The only reason it hasn’t run is that there’s still a lot of journalistic work to do,” CBS News president David Rhodes, speaking at the INTV conference in Jerusalem, said of the buzzworthy interview Anderson Cooper conducted last week with President Trump's alleged mistress, adding that there is still no airdate set. As for President Trump's lawyers stopping the interview from airing, Rhodes said, “I haven’t seen such an injunction, and I can’t imagine what the basis for that would be. Rhodes' interview also touched on Charlie Rose's firing last November for sexual harassment. “It was most important to me, as management, that they not feel managed in what they said,” Rhodes said of having King and O'Donnell respond openly on air and without a script. “So we didn’t prepare statements for them… we asked them to address it in their own words however they felt they should.”

"A short time ago we terminated Charlie Rose’s employment with CBS News, effective immediately," CBS News president David Rhodes announced today of Rose, who co-hosted CBS This Morning and contributed to 60 Minutes. "This followed the revelation yesterday of extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior said to have revolved around his PBS program. Despite Charlie’s important journalistic contribution to our news division, there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace—a supportive environment where people feel they can do their best work. We need to be such a place. I’ve often heard that things used to be different. And no one may be able to correct the past. But what may once have been accepted should not ever have been acceptable."